Player for Papua New Guinea tries to beat blocking from Wallis and Futuna in the men’s final

Wallis Island,
Wallis and Futuna, September 13, 2013 – Long-time women’s champions
Tahiti have taken the gold medal while Papua New Guinea took the
men’s crown in Wednesday’s finals of the 2013 Pacific Mini Games
Volleyball tournament.

The
finals Wednesday saw the Tahiti Women’s team continue their reign as the
Pacific Women’s Champions gaining an emphatic straight sets win
over New Caledonia in 3-0 (26-24, 25-7, 25-14). New
Caledonia came out of the blocks with their strong attack, trading point
for point until the middle of the first set when New Caledonia won a
series of points to lead 18-10. At this point the momentum changed and
the Tahiti women lifted their game with a series of winning serves
from Valeria Vaki, to tie the score at 23-23 and then pull ahead to win the
important points to take the set 26-24.

The
second set brought the Tahiti players even more to the forefront of the
game as their players contributed to a comfortable 25-7 win. New
Caledonia started the third set by winning valuable points to lead early
at 8-7. With an all-round dominant game, Tahiti marched on to take the set
25-14 and the match, continuing their reign as the Pacific Champions.

Tahiti’s
Louisa Vero and Ramatarii Temarii were valuable contributors, with Temarii having
taken over setting duties only one month prior to the Games, when the former
setter had to withdraw with a damaged knee. Romana Ariioehau and Germaine
Manmieu of New Caledonia also showed their volleyball prowess during the
tournament.

The men’s
final saw an epic match between the current champions, Papua New Guinea and
home crowd favourites, Wallis and Futuna. In pool play Papua New
Guinea won a tight match 3-1, but in the final Wallis and Futuna started
strongly taking the first set 25-14 with their strong attacks and blocks. The
second set was a real battle with the teams trading point for point reaching
20-20 and then 24-24, before Papua New Guinea took the set 28-26. Set three
went to Wallis and Futuna with a score of 25-20 before Papua New Guinea came
back to take set four at 25-19.

The
deciding set saw Papua New Guinea finally get their block working to take an 8-4
lead, finishing the set in style with a 15-11 win to become the 2013 Pacific
Mini Games Champions. The pressure will now be on for Papua New Guinea to
retain the title when they host the 2015 Pacific Games.

Papua New
Guinea’s captain Ravuiwa Rau and libero Jeffrey Gima had strong games in an all-round
team effort, while for Wallis and Futuna their setter Boris Takaniko did a
great job along with their captain Vitali Tupou who was strong on both defense
and attack.

Earlier
in the day Fiji’s women won the bronze medal match against Papua New Guinea while
in the men’s tournament, New Caledonia proved to be too strong for Tuvalu
taking the men’s bronze medal.